I’m back from our trip. It was mostly relaxing. I have to admit that I was a bit of a slug. I much preferred laying around reading to being on my feet all day at the conference. Especially after I managed to get shinsplints at Disney.Â
I wasn’t expecting much from weighing in this morning after most of the week on room service, snack machines, and restaurant food. And lo! No change in my weight from last week. Could be worse right? Coulda been a gain from all that salty fatty food and lack of movement!
“No pessimist ever discovered the secret of the stars, or sailed to an uncharted land, or opened a new doorway for the human spirit.” ~Helen Keller
With still another 4543989 things to get done before we leave tomorrow, this is likely my last post until after we get back. Although I considered packing up the laptop to take with us, in the end I decided its just too much of a pain, for as little as I would hope to be spending on a computer during a vacation!  If I need to look up something on the web or check weather or whatnot, I can use my iPhone.Â
Which, by the way, I LOVE. (Yes, dear, you can say “I told you so”.) I was resistant to getting such a “overpowered” phone. I rarely used the cell phone I had before. I didn’t even want that one, but finally was dragged into the age of portable phones when the Kiddo came into our lives; I didn’t want to get caught out and about without a way to communicate, especially when he was a wee thing. Still, for ages the Hubby had the latest phone techs and I stubbornly stuck to my old faithful. But after he picked up his iphone and I saw what it could do, I had to have one. They are just amazing. You wouldn’t beleive the applications available for them, and the things they can do. It’s almost like something out of the future, like something you’d see on a sci-fi show. Now we just need a full sized computer that can be run entirely by touch the way the phone can! 😉
“If you have made mistakes . . . there is always another chance for you . . . you may have a fresh start any moment you choose, for this thing we call “failure” is not the falling down, but the staying down.” ~Mary Pickford
Weighed in this morning at 283.5, which is down 2 pounds this week. I had taken a “preview” peek at the scale midway through on Saturday and actually was down 4 pounds then, so am feeling just a tad let down. On the other hand, its been so long since the scaled moved at all, that’s a cause for celebrating!
I am reluctant to rejoice completely at this point. It could be just a random flucuation in my weight — I wasn’t checking in weekly this past year as I’ve been stuck. But I am hopeful that it is a sign that my body is ready to once again shed some fat.
I’m *finally* feeling better, after nearly 3 weeks of that nasty nasty cold, so my appetite and energy levels are returning to normal. Of course now that I am feeling well and could give 110% to this plan, we actually have a mini vacation planned over a long weekend. I’m leaving Wednesday for anaheim for Blizzcon, which is a convention by the game company that produces Diablo, StarCraft and World of Warcraft (which is the game I play. It’s an online, massively multiplayer fantasy style 3-D game). We’re heading out early to give us a full extra day since our hotel is a hop, skip and a jump from Disney, so we thought we’d take a day for that.  Out here in Oregon there really aren’t any theme parks or amusement parks or anything like that, so it should be fun for us to go play kids and ride some rides. We took the Kiddo to DisneyWorld last February, so I know at least I don’t have to worry about fitting on the rides, since I am no bigger now than then.
“Striving for success without hard work is like trying to harvest where you haven’t planted.” ~David Bly
I’ve been craving roast turkey (and stuffing, mores the pity) for ages and decided I just didn’t want to wait anymore. I cooked up the smallest bird I could find today (which was still pretty darn huge for 2.5 people!) and made a small batch of stuffing. I didn’t make the whole shebang. No potatoes or cranberries – not even gravy (o gravy *sigh*). Just turkey, dressing and vegetables.
Stuffing is one of those foods I can’t really eat without getting ill, but I had a tiny bit (really, like a quarter cup, tops) and it satisfied that urge.
“Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice; it is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved.” Â ~William Jennings Bryan
1. Have Powerful Reasons. With a strong enough reason you can and will find the how and the wherewithal to achieve your reward. Reasons plus belief keep you motivated. When you’re excited about your goal, it doesn’t seem like work. If you’re not excited, your efforts will require more discipline and energy. Make sure it’s YOUR goal. Make sure it excites you. And then act enthusiastically.
2. Write Your Objectives Down. This is a critical step. Don’t think it, ink it. When you write your goals down, they appear not only on paper, but they become indelibly written upon your consciousness.
3. Visualize. “See” your objective already in existence. Nothing can withstand the power of a clear, multi-sensory vision of what you are intending. What does it look like? What will people be saying about it? How will you feel? The more detailed and “real” you can make your vision, the more powerful it will be. It will operate like a magnet and draw forth all kinds of things you never thought possible.
4. Affirm Your Success. Speak your goal into existence. An affirmation is a present-tense, positive statement of your intended outcome. I now have achieved ______________ (fill in the blank). The more sensory rich you can make your affirmations, the more effective they will be. All of these techniques help you to feel the presence of your objective and build belief.
5. Make a Plan of Action. To achieve and stay focused upon your objective, create an action plan. What are the steps you will take to get you from where you are to where you want to be? Your strategies will likely change as you go along, so set your goals in concrete and your plans in sand. Keep your eye on the goal, but remain flexible in your path to it.
6. Measure Your Progress. You can’t change what you don’t measure. Create mechanisms that will allow you to see your progress. Use charts. Log your actions. Use anything that will encourage you by allowing you to objectively track your progress. We all need feedback—it’s the breakfast of champions.
7. Maintain a Support System. Have a Master Mind Group. Use the Buddy System. Surround yourself with people who will encourage and challenge you. Be accountable to someone other than yourself. Read positive books. Review past successes.
8. Focus On Only a Few Goals at a Time. You can achieve anything you desire, but not EVERYTHING you desire. Concentrate your efforts and your energy on just a few. I might have dozens of goals and projects, but I keep three key goals in the forefront of my mind.
9. Take Action Every Day. An important objective warrants daily attention. A 400-page novel is not written all at once. To many, writing a 400-page novel would be overwhelming. But a little over a page a day will get it done in a year. Every goal can be broken down into doable tasks done consistently.
10. Celebrate Your Milestones. Mark your successes and acknowledge yourself for your progress. As you achieve one goal, you can see better and believe more easily in the accomplishment of others. You deserve to succeed and you deserve to celebrate your successes.
“Forget past mistakes. Forget failures. Forget everything except what you’re going to do now and do it.” Â ~William Durant
I continue to be sick. Friday will be 3 weeks now. I’ve been to the doctor; at this point its just a matter of waiting out this bout. But it sure feels like it will never end. Afterwards, I have to see an ear nose and throat guy. I’ve now been advised by multiple physicians that my tonsils need to come out. They apparently have “pockets” on them which are hanging onto germs and whatnot, which is probably why I’ve had 8893849242 bouts of sore throat, strep, tonsilitis ad nauseum this past year+.
Getting tonsils out at my ripe old age of 38 is not the walk in the park that it would be for a six year old apparently. In fact while a child bounces back in a few days, for an adult it can take several weeks. I’m unthrilled at the prospect. On the other hand, it would be nice to be able to go at least a few weeks at a time without throat pain, which right now seems impossible.
“In the depths of winter I finally learned there was in me an invincible summer.” ~Albert Camus
Bento is a relatively new interest of mine. While the Japanese term “bento” roughly translates to “box lunch” in English, and I guess even a happy meal would qualify, a typical traditional Japanese Bento is not an average packed lunch. It’s really a craft, an art. The goal with bento is to assemble a meal that is just as appealing to the eyes as it is to the taste buds.  It’s ruled first by the concept of Goshiki (five colors) which calls for the cook to include at least one item from each color group (Red or Orange, White, Black or Purple or Brown, Yellow and Green).  Food is divided proportionally, 3 parts rice to 2 parts fruit and/or vegetables to 1 part protein. Bento boxes are packed tightly, wedging the food into place so it maintains its visual appeal until lunchtime.Â
Beyond that, they can get pretty crazy. It’s not uncommon for Japanese mothers to prepare an elaborate, playfully and creatively decorated boxed lunch to entice their children to eat all of their food when they’re at school. Some of it is so artistic, its hard to believe that its all edible.
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And while I admit, I have seen some beautiful bentos, that’s not its only draw. I stumbled on to it while researching lunch boxes for the kidlet and hubby. Hubby wants to start taking lunches instead of purchasing them at the deli so that he can work on his health as well. And while the kidlet doesn’t need daily lunches right now, as his preschool provides meals and I am satisfied with thier nutrition, it doesn’t hurt to start looking now, when I was looking for the hubby anyway! I wanted a “green” solution, in the materials used for the box, and in reusable bits for storage and I came across Laptop Lunchboxes, which are often called the “american bento”. One thing led on to another. I love the no waste concept, the portion control imposed by a bento box. Even if I’m not interested in building Grand Masterpieces of Design with elaborate characters and such (“Kyaraben”), the art of building a bento appeals to me, balancing it in food types and color, creating a nutritious, yet attractive lunch appeals to me.
Besides, bento box accessories are just so CUTE! 😉
If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly, our whole life would change. ~ Buddha
The title? Oh, well, imagine me squealing like a little girl. Not very diginified, I know, but my last package of bento box goodies that I’ve ordered arrived today. Ever since I first saw the “Ringo” (Apple) line by Shinzi Katoh, I just had to have it! Katoh is a zakka artist. (Zakka refers to super cute, often utilitarian, objects designed with an English or French vintage influence. Mushrooms and polka dots and adorable little animals. Decole. If that helps at all.) At any rate, neither the english version of his site nor the UK supplier site had the ringo line available. Digging everywhere online, I couldn’t seem to get my hands on anyone that still had the bits in stocks. I finally located one Japan-based Ebay store that actually had the mayo cups, sauce bottles, furikake shakers, picks and hard, reusable cups. They weren’t conveniently listed as ringo or shinzi katoh, but with much digging and searches for bento + apple + bottle and whatever combo I could think of, I stumbled on them! I ordered those and a couple other goodies, and they finally came. My haul:
- Ringo by Shinzi Katoh
I won’t link the store — turns out that her stock was rather limited. The only thing I could still find there today was the picks. Eek, just in time for me I guess!
I’m a great believer in luck and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it. ~Thomas Jefferson
Here I am – again. Over the past 7 years I’ve been using the internet to track my efforts at losing weight and regaining my health. And I’m back to give it yet another go. Like most people with a severe weight problem, I’ve tried almost anything and everything in my life. In my teens and 20’s I lost weight with extreme and fad diets and they often worked, but of course it never lasted. This journey has been about finding a healthy, sustainable way to live. It has been far from easy.
Right now I weigh in at 285 pounds. That’s a significant number to me, unfortunately. I’ve managed to lose to this weight several times. But every time I hit this point, my body just rebels. Weeks go by, and no matter what I eat and don’t eat, no matter how much or little I exercise, no matter what tips I follow, what tricks I try, my body refuses to shed another pound. When I stop working, the weight returns. 350 is where my body seems to want to rest. Although I have seen higher numbers (close to 370 once), 350 is where I seem to stabalize, repeatedbly. After hitting this “plateau” for the Nth time, my doctor urged me (and not for the first time) to consider weight loss surgery.
I’d been stubbornly opposed to the idea. I wanted this to be a healthy, sustainable effort by ME. Surgery seemed like cheating.  But it seemed clear by that point that my weight was affected by more than how much I ate or exercised. What? Well, that’s the lovely thing. Doctors don’t really know. They can say its “Syndrome X” or “Metabolic Syndrome”, but what it boils down to is that they recognize a collection of symptoms, but have no idea of the cause or any way to fix the problem. My PCP and the surgeon urged me to reconsider, because aside from the obvious reduction in calories caused by surgery, the surgery also has an unknown factor, it works in a way they can’t explain, affecting brain and stomach chemistry, and they felt it was my best chance.
I eventually elected for lap-band surgery. It’s far less extreme than the traditional gastric bypass. In theory, its even reversable. It doesn’t prevent you from absorbing calories like the bypass. Nothing is removed; they simply place a belt around the initial bit of your stomach creating a tiny stomach with a tiny hole leading to the rest of the stomach. So less food helps you feel fuller. You don’t lose weight by the bucketful as with gastric bypass. In fact, the standard 2 pounds a week rule still applies. It just helps you control how much you put in your mouth.
Maybe I didn’t think it through well enough. I mean eating well and exercising didn’t help me get past that mystical 285, so was feeling full on less really going to help? Well, let me tell you what the surgery hasn’t done for me in the 16 months since I went under the knife. It hasn’t suddenly made me skinny. I got stuck at this exact same place about six months after the surgery.
But here is what it has done. Before, when I hit this plateau (in all fairness, anything that lasts for months despite hitting the gym almost daily, including 3 times a week with a physical trainer, and barely being able to eat anything solid is more of a mountain chain of Everests than a plateau), I would work at it for a few more weeks or even a few months and eventually my inability to creep below 280, regardless of how I worked would wear me down. I’d give up, and in the blink of an eye – almost literally, I think my record gain was 17 pounds in a week – all the weight would be back on.
But not this time. I hit 285 and stayed there, and stayed there. I had given up really trying. I’m not exercising. I’m not trying hard to eat the right foods. I’m ignoring many of the rules of lap band surgery. But I’ve maintained this weight for a year.
My body has had a year to acclimate to THIS as its “default” weight. I’ve decided its time to stop fooling around, and get back to what I know I can do — eat well, exercise regularly and journal, and finally make progress once again. Read more about my exercise routine and what I use in the little home gym I made myself.
The greatest discovery of our generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind. As you think, so shall you be. ~William James